L-G Jung orders relief to storm-hit people; power lines being restored on war footing.

Lieutenant-Governor Najeeb Jung on Saturday directed the Divisional Commissioner’s office to survey and assess damage to life and property caused by Friday’s squall and dust storm in the capital and to provide ex-gratia and relief to the affected families.

The power companies were working on a war footing on Saturday to repair the damaged infrastructure and restore power in many parts of the city.

In the aftermath of the storm, there was major loss of supply from extra high-voltage Northern region lines, feeding power to Delhi and a number of 400KV, 220KV, 66KV, 33KV and 11KV lines tripped.

“At the time of the thunderstorm, Delhi was drawing around 5,000 MW and the load fell by 4,000 MW within an hour. The restoration of lines was taken up on a war footing and priority was accorded for restoring power to the Delhi Metro, water treatment plants and the New Delhi Municipal Council area,” a statement issued by the L-G’s office said.

By midnight, a majority of the load was restored and Delhi was drawing 3,200 MW with 200 MW load shedding. Three 220 KV transmission lines — Mandola-Gopalpur Line, Bawana-Rohini Line, Bamnauli-Pappankalan-I Line — are still down due to damage to towers.

A statement issued by the Delhi Transco limited said the Principal Secretary (Power) has directed the discoms to resort to rotational load shedding until lines are restored.

On Saturday, the situation was reported to be “near normal” in most areas, while there was rotational load shedding of 300 MW during peak hours.

The BSES said a 220KV transmission line from Bamnauli to Papankallan I grid, which supplies a major portion of the power to Southwest Delhi, has been affected due to damage to its four towers.

“The restoration of this line is likely to take up to three days,” the discom said.

The BRPL is likely to have load shedding for 5-6 hours over the next 2-3 days in certain areas of West Delhi such as Palam, Dwarka, Tilak Nagar, Rajouri Garden, Uttam Nagar, Vikaspuri and Janakpuri.

Discom TPPDL, which supplies power to North Delhi, said supply from 400/220 KV Bawana grid to Rohini grid was still down “as five towers were reportedly damaged, which “will take 7 to 10 days to reinstate”.

“However, supply to Rohini, Shalimar Bagh and Pitampura areas is being alternatively fed through Bawana-Shalimar Bagh-Rohini line which may result in some load restrictions,” a spokesperson said.

TPPDL said its network has suffered extensive damage in Bawana and Narela.

“The TPDDL’s network has suffered extensive damage and efforts are on restore power supply to the affected areas by late on Saturday.”